ISRAEL
Netanyahu hails deal
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday lauded a highly anticipated deal reached on Sunday to restore ties with Turkey, six years after a deadly raid on an aid flotilla soured relations. Netanyahu, speaking after meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome, said the agreement would have major implications for the economy. “I think it’s an important step here to normalize relations,” he told reporters. He described it as having “immense implications for the Israeli economy, and I use that word advisedly… I mean positive, immense implications. Netanyahu and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim were scheduled to hold separate news conferences in Rome and Ankara later in the day to detail the deal.
LEBANON
Suicide bombers kill five
A group of suicide bombers yesterday detonated their explosives in a northeastern village near the border with Syria, killing five people and wounding at least 15, a military official and paramedics said. The National News Agency said the blasts occurred in the predominantly Christian village of Qaa, only few hundred meters away from the border. It said four suicide bombers were involved in the rare multiple attack. The villagers became suspicious of the men as they were passing through the village about 4am, an eyewitness said. When civilian security men who guard the village called out to them, they threw a hand grenade before successively blowing themselves up. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
UNITED STATES
Ten stabbed at rally
Ten people were wounded on Sunday after a stabbing spree at neo-Nazi rally outside California’s state capitol building, officials said. The white supremacist rally was met by counter-protesters, Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey said. One female and nine males had “multiple stab and laceration wounds,” the fire department said on Twitter. It was unclear to which group the wounded, who ranged in age from 19 to 58, belonged. Of those injured, at least two were in critical condition, Harvey said. The stabbing spree broke out when about 25 neo-Nazis, who had permission to protest on the capitol’s west steps, clashed with more than 150 anarchists and “anti-fascist” counter-protesters, the Sacramento Bee reported.
UNITED STATES
Progress in battling wildfire
Firefighters on Sunday made headway against a wildfire in central California that has claimed two lives and burned 200 homes. Federal fire officials said containment massive blaze increased from 10 percent to 40 percent. About 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze, which has destroyed many homes. Officials have warned the death toll might rise and said that cadaver dogs were being brought in to search for remains.
LITHUANIA
Village picks prettiest goat
The village of Ramygala on Sunday held its annual beauty pageant, with the top prize going to a 16-month-old female goat called Demyte (Little Spot). About 500 people braved the summer heat to attend the parade in honor of the goat, a traditional symbol of the northern village. The pageant also included a marching band, dancers in fancy costumes and a “king” and “queen” presiding over ceremonies. It was the first time Demyte’s owner, 74-year-old retired veterinarian Ferdinandas Petkevicius, had won the competition after six years of trying.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
China’s Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country’s human spaceflight agency said yesterday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country’s space station Tiangong. An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement, without providing a new schedule for the return mission, which was originally set to land in northern China yesterday. The delay highlights the danger to space travel posed by increasing amounts of debris, such as discarded launch vehicles or vessel
IMPASSE: US President Donald Trump pressed to end the filibuster in a sign that he is unlikely to compromise despite Democrat offers for a delayed healthcare vote The US government shutdown stretched into its 40th day yesterday even as senators stayed in Washington for a grueling weekend session hoping to find an end to the funding fight that has disrupted flights nationwide, threatened food assistance for millions of Americans and left federal workers without pay. The US Senate has so far shown few signs of progress over a weekend that could be crucial for the shutdown fight. Republican leaders are hoping to hold votes on a new package of bills that would reopen the government into January while also approving full-year funding for several parts of government, but
TOWERING FIGURE: To Republicans she was emblematic of the excesses of the liberal elite, but lawmakers admired her ability to corral her caucus through difficult votes Nancy Pelosi, a towering figure in US politics, a leading foe of US President Donald Trump and the first woman to serve as US House of Representatives speaker, on Thursday announced that she would step down at the next election. Admired as a master strategist with a no-nonsense leadership style that delivered for her party, the 85-year-old Democrat shepherded historic legislation through the US Congress as she navigated a bitter partisan divide. In later years, she was a fierce adversary of Trump, twice leading his impeachment and stunning Washington in 2020 when she ripped up a copy of his speech to the
RSS